PANO – The Vietnam-China Border Defence Friendship Exchange is not only to build up the shared borderline of peace, friendship, cooperation and development, but also to share and apply mutual useful experience in settling their pending issues that they have not reached consensus on yet.
This was stated by Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defence, in an interview given to reporters of the People’s Army Newspaper ahead the third Vietnam-China Border Defence Friendship Exchange, scheduled to take place in the last four days of this month.
Reporters:Could you please share the target of the third Vietnam-China Border Defence Friendship Exchange?Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh: There are different levels of relationship in external affairs between Vietnam and other countries worldwide. Among them, Vietnam attaches more importance to relations with its neighbors that share borders with the country, namely China, Laos and Cambodia.
Particularly, Vietnam and China finished border demarcation on land and in the Gulf of Tonkin. As for their results on land, the two sides completed the process of demarcation and border marker planting in accordance with international law and respect for each other national sovereignty.
It is important for all states to build their borderlines of peace, stability and development. In order to achieve the win-win target on the shared borderline between Vietnam and China, the two countries should value the bilateral border ties in general and the defence cooperation in border areas in particular.
Furthermore, it is clear to say that the border-related activities are not only a matter of protecting national sovereignty and security, but also means of strengthening a peaceful environment and facilitating the two countries’ economic and cultural activities and people-to-people friendly exchanges as well.
In order to carry out the mission, the army should firmly safeguard territorial integrity and join hands with border guards, who are also regarded as “gatekeepers” to ensure security and order in border areas. In addition, the two countries’ armies should boost cooperation to build mutual trust and consolidate friendship to pave the way for the development of other fields. So, this year’s exchange is not just a foreign affairs activity, but also a motivation to boost the trans-border cooperation between the two countries and armies.
Border guards of Vietnam and China in a joint patrol
As a result, the two Ministries of National Defence agreed to hold the annual border defence friendship exchange. 2014 witnessed the first exchange at the deputy-ministerial level which resulted in an agreement to carry out a number of activities to further promote their cooperation on the mainland border as well as to boost mutual understanding to narrow the differences while increasing similarities on questions of mutual concern.
Last year, when the two sides were preparing for the second event, the Chinese side suggested the event to be at the ministerial level. This suggestion is significant as until now, few countries organized border exchanges in the presence of their defence ministers. In spite of their busy schedules, the two Defence Ministers spent four days (two in Vietnam and two in China) to attend activities in the framework of the exchange. The second event was seen as a success, making considerable contributions to development of the bilateral relations.
This year, the two sides continue running the exchange in order to further foster their traditional ties. It will take place in Lang Son province (Vietnam) and Guangxi province (China) with similar activities like the two previous events.
Reporters:After the two exchanges, what are the activities or initiatives rolled out and fulfilled by the two sides’ armies or localities that you are deeply impressed with, sir?Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh: There are two things. Firstly, the relationship between the two sides’ border guard forces has increasingly developed, serving as an important foundation to boost the mutual trust.
Secondly, people of both countries were interested in these exchanges. The efforts to support people in border areas helped them learn more about the two armies in general and border guard forces in particular. They also understood that the good relationship between the two armies and border guard forces, and the outcomes of the exchanges would benefit their business and living standards.
In my opinion, these exchanges have made contributions to building up the images of the two sides’ border guard forces among their people. They are considered helpers and watchmen, but are not only those who stop and deal with problems relating to order and security along the shared borderline.
Meanwhile, some initiates put forward by units at the grassroots level and have been effectively applied in the reality, such as joint patrols. Normally, only border guards undertook the patrols, but at present Party committee members, authorities, youths, women and even children in various localities joined the activities. Moreover, the sister localities in Vietnam and China’s border areas regularly held cultural, sports and artistic exchanges, and these activities in turn helped beef up the bilateral cooperation and peace in border areas.
The Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence has recommended that the Government should allow the Vietnam Border Guard Command to carry out a bomb and mine clearance project in all border gates and economic parks along the shared borderline to help localities develop their economic cooperation potential with the Chinese side. The good economic relationship will improve the mutual understanding and expand the bilateral cooperation in other sectors.
Reporters:What should Vietnam and China do to realize their motto “increasing the same points of view and reducing differences” in the bilateral relations, Mr. Deputy Minister of National Defence?Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh: We have talked about the matter many times, but on the whole it is necessary to heighten the mutual trust. To get this done, both Vietnam and China should find each side’s cooperation potential. The practical cooperation should be built in the principles of independence and self-reliance, and should contribute to building up the bilateral political trust and to ensuring peace and stability in the region. In any fields that they have “the same points of view”, the two countries have to make every effort to cooperate together basing on these above principles.
Actually, Vietnam and China still have territorial disputes in the East Sea-related issues. Vietnam’s consistent position is that they would firmly protect the national sovereignty and legitimate interests by peaceful means in accordance with international law and regional treaties, and not use or threaten to use force. In this background, firstly, the army should join the Party, State and people in firmly safeguarding the territorial integrity. Besides, the political trust is an important foundation to gradually deal with disputes in the East Sea. As a result, we also should build up the political trust with China by goodwill and defence cooperation, and then the two countries should make commitments not to use force and all disputes should be resolved peacefully.
In conclusion, the Vietnam-China Border Defence Friendship Exchange is not only to build up the shared borderline of peace, friendship, cooperation and development, but also to find and apply each side’s useful experience to deal with their pending issues. Vietnam will resolutely seek new methods to better the exchange and hopes that China should be determined to maintain the meaningful program. From that point, the both sides will soon realize that it is an essential and regular event for their all levels, branches and localities along the shared borderline.
Reporters:Thank you very much, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh!Written by Bao Trung-Nguyen HoaTranslated by Van HieuRelated stories:
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